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Jingdezhen porcelain
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Jingdezhen porcelain is Chinese porcelain produced in or near Jingdezhen in southern China. Jingdezhen may have produced pottery as early as the sixth century CE, though it is named after the name of Emperor Zhenzong, in whose reign it became a major kiln site. By the 14th century it had become the largest centre of production of Chinese porcelain, from the Ming period onwards, official kilns in Jingdezhen were controlled by the emperor, making imperial porcelain in large quantity for the court and the emperor to give as gifts. It also has a river leading to river systems flowing north and south, the imperial kilns were in the centre of the city at Zhushan, with many other kilns four kilometres away at Hutian. The imperial kilns were situated at Pearl Hill in Jingdezhen, some give a date of 1369 for the commencement of production. But there continued to be many other kilns, producing wares for many distinct markets, the imperial court, except during periods of crisis, generated a huge demand for porcelain. Apart from the vast main palaces and other residences, for much of the period the many princes had subsidiary regional courts, there were imperial temples to be supplied, each of which was given monochrome wares in different colours, as well as several monasteries and shrines. The porcelain to which different ranks of the household were entitled were set out in minute detail in regulations. The final version of these, from 1899, specified that the Empress Dowager Cixi was allowed 821 pieces of yellow porcelain, a concubine of the first rank had 121 pieces of yellow with a white interior, but those of the second rank had yellow decorated with green dragons. The Ming dynasty is dated as beginning in 1368, but there was a long revolt against the Yuan dynasty. By 1402 there were twelve imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, then one of three areas with imperial kilns, production was controlled by a ministry in the capital, by then in Beijing, far to the north. Production was on a scale, employing hundreds if not thousands of workers. In 1433 a single order from the palace was for 443,500 pieces of porcelain, all with dragon, court artists were by now supplying drawn or woodblock printed designs from the capital. Some may also have sold, especially for export. Sometimes antique pieces in the Imperial collection were sent to Jingdezhen to be copied, a recently excavated Ming princely burial has yielded the first example to survive until modern times of a type of gaiwan set known from 15th-century paintings. There is a blue and white Jingdezhen stem cup, that has a silver stand, presumably many such sets existed, but recycling the precious metal elements was too tempting at some point, leaving only the porcelain cups. Other imperial porcelains may have carried gilding, which has now worn away, under the Yongle Emperor, reign marks were introduced for the first time, applied to porcelain and other types of luxury products made for the imperial court. A wide variety of wares were produced for the court, with blue and white accompanied by red and this was sometimes combined with the cobalt blue in blue and red pieces